Network encapsulation systems are used to provide features and capabilities to a network that otherwise would not support these capabilities or features due to its design, by running a new protocol over an existing protocol. Typically, these encapsulation systems take Internet Protocol (IP) traffic, also known as Layer 3 traffic in the OSI model, that is generated by client applications and wrap it in a new protocol. Encapsulation systems typically function in a bidirectional manner. That is, operations performed at a client are also performed by a network component when traffic is being sent in the reverse direction.
There are many existing encapsulation systems in use today. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has standardized a variety of encapsulation systems that accomplish different goals. Examples of such encapsulation systems include IPsec for providing security and integrity, Mobile IP for allowing devices to maintain an IP address as they move across the Internet, and Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) for simplifying routing traffic from a variety of different customers with conflicting address spaces across the same network.
Further, encapsulation can be used in systems designed to aggregate bandwidth provided by multiple networks paths. For example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/004,652, titled “Communication Between Client and Server Using Multiple Networks” by Manku et al. (the '652 application) and U.S. Pat. No. 7,539,175, titled “Multi-Access Terminal with Capability for Simultaneous Connectivity to Multiple Communication Channels” by White et al. (the '175 patent) each describe different solutions for using a plurality of different network paths.
Because of the inherent nature of encapsulation systems, there is communication overhead in terms of bandwidth and latency involved in establishing and maintaining a communication channel. The overhead is exacerbated when multiple channels are created and maintained as in the case of the '652 application and the '175 patent.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an encapsulation system in which the communication overhead can be reduced.